opera and concerts in london and beyond

12 August 2013

Trouser trouble for Kaufmann's Don Carlo

Stein has set his production at the time of the story, when Blackadder-style horsehair-stuffed bloomers were all the rage. Heinrich says these are unflattering and hard to wear on stage, so she looked at historical paintings for an alternative solution. In some Italian works she found narrow, pleated pants with a slim leg, cut above the knee. These are worn with a waist-length lapped doublet.

Historically accurate clothing would be uncomfortable and impractical, and the detailing too expensive. In any case, Heinrich's main consideration is to make the singers look and feel good.

So Kaufmann wears a simplified version, adapted for freedom of movement and breathing.

I can understand a director or designer wanting costumes to be as flattering as possible (I remember David McVicar saying in his In Conversation last year at the ROH that this was the main reason why he'd opted to update his Traviata by a couple of decades - because the costumes made people look much better). But difficulty of wearing/movement? Surely the authentic look of a costume is something that can be faked while keeping the garment functional. People who create ballet costumes know all about such things - maybe opera costumiers could learn a few lessons from them. The military uniform jackets worn by the men in Mayerling, for example.

The costume department could be very creative and design bloomers that can be filled with ice packs (or frozen peas) instead of the horsehair; this would help with the ambient heat (but might of course affect fertility in some).

My problem with the costumes is that the basic black he wears, although true to the era, is mostly too plain for a royal prince. He's wearing almost the same garb as Posa, and he shouldn't. Royalty might have been wearing black, but their clothing was heavily ornamented and a very important marker of rank. Since sewing machines can replicate complex hand stitchery quite easily, I'm disappointed that Jonas's pants aren't fancier.